The plait from the Hedeby Apron Dress Fragment

This has been on my to-do list for quite a while, and apparently today was the day.

Several years ago, I saw this blog post on how to make the plait that was on the apron dress from Hedeby: https://blog.eibeck.de/2014/plait-from-the-hedeby-apron-dress-fragment.html

I went something like "hmm, looks interesting" and mentally noted that I should try it, because, well, it's a braid and I like braids.

Not terribly long ago, someone on Instagram did this braid as a short video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZpbK2nuE-f/

The original braid was used decoratively, sewn down over a seam or tuck or something on the archaeological textile fragment.  Decorative braids used as trim or sewn over seams are a relatively common thing and the braids can be fun to explore.

Anyway, yes, today was the day.  I cut 6 pieces of cheap acrylic yarn in two colors and braided away.

It is a very easy braid and looks good (and very similar) on both sides.  By varying the tension a bit, I can get it to fold up or lay flat.  No matter what I do, the braid spirals.  You can see that quite easily in the above photo.

No wonder it was sewn down, though it's possible that some blocking (perhaps with a weight) would reduce the spiraling a bit.  Or maybe using yarn with the opposite ply direction would have a small bit of influence, though I suspect not enough to counteract the braid's innate tendency to spiral.

A lot of braids I see from these archaeological things seem to have the over-2/under-2 kind of construction, often with doubled yarn/thread/cords.  I don't know if that means anything or if it's kind of a naturally easy way to make nice-looking braids that are a bit more interlaced than a pigtail-type braid where all the action is in the middle of the braid.  If that makes sense.

The basic plan for this 6-strand braid:

Take 6 braiding elements.  The blog post and instagram post show two colors that are alternating but obviously we can do anything we want.  The one on the apron dress probably followed the alternating color arrangement, given the experiments shown on the blog post.

Mentally (or physically) separate the elements into the left group and the right group.

On the right -- the outermost element goes over 2 elements and gets dropped in the middle.

On the left, the outermost element goes under 2 elements, then over the element that just got dropped in the middle.

Repeat.

The process is very clearly shown in both the video and the blog post referenced above.

Hmm, I wonder what it would look like if I did it more like a simple plait  -- over 2 and drop in the middle, then either over 3 or (more probably) over 2 and under the one in the middle?  It wouldn't be the Hedeby plait, though.  And I probably have done it before but was just fooling around and didn't really think about what I was doing.

Also, would it look different if done by a left-handed person, who might find it easier to do the first move (over 2 and drop in the middle) on the left side rather than the right?  Dunno.  Do I care enough to try?  And if it does look different, does that mean we can make guesses about the handedness of the braider?  Though there are many other reasons why a braider might choose one version over the other, of course.

The blog post person does not claim that this is the only way to have made the plait.  Undoubtedly that's true -- a braid only sometimes leaves evidence of the technique used to make it, and it's not always easy to see the braid structure in a not-so-good photo of a scrap of textile that's been in the ground for more than a millennium.

Anyway, I'm glad I finally played around with this braid, so many years after I originally learned about it.  I should do more of these simple little braids that are on my to-do-someday list.